DNC: Pro-Palestine Protesters Descend on Chicago, Calling for Gaza Ceasefire
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Tens of thousands of people are anticipated to descend on Chicago amid the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) — not to attend it, but to push the Harris campaign on a ceasefire in Gaza.
Setting the tone for a week of action the evening before the convention’s start, about 200 protesters, who were described in a press release as Palestinian youth and allies, disrupted a DNC kickoff party with a banner reading "KAMALA: NO WEAPONS TO ISRAEL." That same night, 1,000 protesters convened in the city to march for Palestine and abortion rights, The Guardian reported. According to the Associated Press, the Chicago area is home to one of the largest Palestinian populations in the US.
The death toll in Gaza hovers above 40,000, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health, but a June study released by the medical journal The Lancet suggested the number may exceed 186,000. On August 17, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who is expected to give introductory remarks at the convention, called what’s happening in Gaza “genocidal” in Mother Jones. The interview made comparisons to the 1968 DNC protests in Chicago — when 10,000 anti-Vietnam War protesters were met with 12,000 Chicago cops, National Guard, and federal troops — which has been a constant reference point for this year’s DNC.
Some 270 organizations are coming together this year as the Coalition to March on the DNC to protest the war in Gaza. These include a number of youth and student organizations, among them Students for a Democratic Society, Students for Justice in Palestine, Young Democratic Socialists of America, Dissenters, Muslim Student Association, and Jewish Voice for Peace.
The Coalition was in talks with the city about protest permits for months — up through the Friday before actions began, when city officials agreed to allow protesters to have stages, sound amplification, and toilets. The first march during the convention is set to begin at 12 p.m. CT on Monday.
“We’re a broad-based coalition composed of people from all sectors of society that the Democrats claim to represent,” said Faayani Aboma Mijana, a spokesperson for the coalition. “And we’re all united in standing with Palestine to demand an end to all US aid to Israel.”
The day before the convention started, the Uncommitted movement – which organized half a million voters, many in key swing states, to deny Joe Biden support in the presidential primaries due to his Israel policy – announced that the DNC would host its first-ever panel on Palestinian human rights on its first day. Uncommitted will have roughly 30 delegates participating in the DNC.
“Our focus remains on policy change. Vice President Harris has an opportunity to unite the party against Trump this week by turning the page toward a human rights policy that saves lives and helps us re-engage key voters for whom Gaza is a top issue,” Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, cofounders of Uncommitted, said in a statement. “We will keep pushing for our party’s leadership to break away from its current financing of Israel’s horrific assault on Gaza and military rule over Palestinians.”
Nation editor Jack Mirkinson argued in an op-ed earlier this month that Harris has “provided no signs that she intends to meaningfully depart from Joe Biden’s approach to Gaza,” a sentiment echoed in a recent youth-listening session hosted by Teen Vogue contributor Rachel Janfaza for her newsletter, “The Up and Up.”
Mussab Ali, 27 and running for mayor of Jersey City, told Janfaza, “What is she addressing and what is she going to fight for? We know that she’s the vice president under President Biden. But does that mean there’s any difference or any daylight?”
From the protests on Monday morning, Kshama Sawant, a former city council member of Seattle, observed to Democracy Now! that after Harris announced she would seek the nomination, the United States approved selling $20 billion in fighter jets and “other military equipment” to Israel, as reported by Reuters.
The fervor surrounding the Harris-Walz campaign in the past few weeks has focused on memes and TikToks, but this week highlights the challenges to win over constituencies such as Uncommitted voters who are focused on ending the war in Gaza.
Another campaign that will be present at the DNC is Reject AIPAC, which is pushing Democrats to cut ties with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee after the organization’s PAC funded successful campaigns to unseat pro-Palestine congressmembers Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman.
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Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
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